The St. Mary’s County Arts Council presented four $1,000 awards to recently graduated high school seniors who are pursuing the arts in higher education. The Arts Council has established these awards to recognize, encourage, and support individuals who demonstrate excellence and a high level of interest in the Performing, Theater, or Visual Arts.

This year’s recipients are Eliza Eschenbrenner, Katelyn Freese, Matthew Hayden, and Lily O’Neill. Congratulations to all!

Eliza Eschenbrenner - Performing Arts Category (Chopticon High School)

Eliza has been involved in Theater Arts since 4th grade. Most recently she took her final bow at Choptipcon HS in the role of Cady Heron in the Mean Girls production. She was a member of the Peace Pipers and Triple Threat Performance troupes and completed classes as part of the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) program.

Aside from theatre, Eliza states that community service is a big part of her life. She recently served at a youth summer camp on the kitchen crew where she enjoyed helping children ages seven to ten.

 “Doing 3+ shows a year, doing community outreach, and staying humble and kind is what is going to push me above and beyond.”

 Katelyn Freese - Visual Arts Category (St. Mary’s Ryken High School)

Katelyn has been part of the Visual Arts Scholar program at St. Mary’s Ryken (SMR), allowing her to focus on her artistic development. She served as President of the SMR National Arts Honor Society and has coordinated two in-house exhibits at the St. Mary’s County Arts Council Gallery, featuring the work of the Honor Society students (2022 and 2023). Katelyn worked with her school on a multi-year graphic design project since 10th grade.  

“Overall, I hope to be seen and make myself known as someone who is creative, motivated, confident and dependable.”

Matthew Hayden - Performing Arts Category (St. Mary’s Ryken High School )

Matthew began playing the drums around three years old. His first memory of music was listening to Metallica in his Dad’s car at a very young age. His favorite genres of music include metal, rock, country, go-go and jazz. Around the age of 11 he started taking drum lessons from local instructor Sheila Klotz of the SoMar Drummers. At that point, he became more focused on his artistic talents and found that the more he played the more he loved drumming and percussion. Metallica remains one of his favorite bands today.

Matthew has been an active member of the SMR Fine Arts Dept. including the Concert and Jazz bands. He served as President of the Concert Band during his senior year and held the position of Percussion Section Leader.  

“I find a lot of beauty and meaning in music.”

Lily O’Neill - Visual Arts Category (Chopticon High School)

Lily was enrolled in the Academy of Visual & Performing Arts (AVPA) program and National Arts Honor Society at Chopticon High School. She recently worked with a team of other students to create collaborative murals featuring themes of diversity. One of her favorite classes at Chopticon High School was AP 3D Studio Art. She also takes ceramic classes at the College of Southern Maryland which she very much enjoys.

Lily, who is a multi-talented artist, joined Chopticon’s Theatre Arts program and served as the Head of Props, with the Crew team, and most recently in the Set Painting department. She created various props and sculptures for productions and is a member of the International Thespian Society.

 “Creating art is important to me because it is my passion. It is something that I love doing because I can use it to express my emotions and turn them into something beautiful.”

Congratulations to all of our scholarship recipients! Visit our website for information about future scholarship opportunities.